Tribes of Northward
There are three major tribes of people in Northward, as well as two groups of tribes made up of dozens of family-groups. These tribes have particular customs and costumes, and were all at one point ruled by the druids, and then the Malthusians. Tribal identity since the time of the Lancine Empire means little, but does color how a Northwardian individual comports themselves. The tribes are the Jokastrians, the Vaskalians, the Longabartians, the Motte-Men, and the Moor-Men. Jokastrians The Jokastrians were always in conflict with the elves of the Tall Tree Woodhold, and therefore had little major attachment to the druids, and took to Malthusian rule quickly. Ardent worshippers of Kord from the time of antiquity (before the Malthusians, he was the Sea-Father, the Storm-Bringer, and the Wave-Wanderer), the Jokastrians lived in small hamlets throughout the Jokastrian Valley, around the series of narrow, deep lakes that line the valley floor, and the estuary at the inland tip of the Bay of Jokasta. The Jokastrians are predominately dark-haired, prefer indigo-dyed clothing, and their preferred weapons are jokesters: ''sturdy, short spears with iron tips. '''Vaskalians' The Vaskalians were the most difficult group to be brought under imperial control, specifically because of their close proximity to the Wildwood Woodhold; it is said that the first druids were taught there, and that within the heart of every Vaskalian is a part that cleaves to that worship. Like the elves, the Vaskalians worship the natural triad of divinity: earth, sun, and water; today, that manifests in a Vaskalian household as a reverence for all three of the major deities equally, though the Vaskalians on the Island of Vaskalia are still druidic. The Vaskalians lived in small hamlets between the Wildwood and the Bay of Mottland. They are predominately auburn-haired and olive-complected, and wear mostly brown clothes with orange and red decorations. The Vaskalians are known for their archery. Longabartians The Longabartians of lower Farland are renowned for their ferocity in combat. They are shorter than the average Northwardian, with very light skin and auburn-to-blonde hair, and the men proudly wear long beards. They have been in a constant struggle with the gnolls since prehistory, and their herds of cattle have been seen as easy prey by the gnolls. Throughout the rule of the Malthusians, the Longabartians held to their druidic beliefs, and were only able to keep to those beliefs because of how difficult imperial rule in Farland was, owing to its inhospitable climate and the knoll problem. They lived a nomadic, roving existence, moving with their herds from ritual site to ritual site, and during the Age of Tyrants, many reverted to that practice. A Longabartian will always carry a hand-axe. Motte-Men Motte-Men is the collective term for the dozens of small tribes and family-groups in the lower Mottlander Valley, predominately located around the central and southern coast of the Bay of Mottland. What distinguished the Motte-Men from the rest of the tribes of Northward was a cultural predilection towards building massive manmade hills, called mottes. In antiquity, mottes were locations for druidic ritual sites and the halls of tribal leaders. This tradition barely disseminated through Northward under druidic rule, and though the Malthusians exported it throughout the empire, it wasn't until the Age of Tyrants that motte-building became ubiquitous in Northward. The Motte-Men were and still are predominately hunters and farmers, and are usually fairly short and dark-haired. Moor-Men The Moor-Men are a loosely-related group of tribes and family-groups who live in the higher reaches of the Mottlander Valley, in the fertile valleys around the moors and lakes. After the Mistveil, the Moor-Men, to a person, converted and became Pelorites, and revere the Sanctified Constant of Malthusia, and the Kingdom of Moorland today is the strongest bastion for Pelorites in Northward, and attracts pilgrims from throughout the former empire. Moor-Men are mostly shepherds and farmers, and are generally taller than their neighbors to the east.